


THE HEAVENS and YOU and ME

by 3ves



Category: Homestuck
Genre: Alternate Universe, Angst with a Happy Ending, Creation Myth, Enemies to Lovers, F/F, Friends to Enemies to Lovers, Self-Sacrifice, Stabbing, Temporary Character Death
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-07-16
Updated: 2020-07-16
Packaged: 2021-03-04 18:33:28
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Major Character Death
Chapters: 2
Words: 6,218
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/25300912
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/3ves/pseuds/3ves
Summary: YOU look at ME. THE HEAVENS shine on YOU.YOU are winning. YOU never know how to lose.--[in other words: a short play about the ways in which letting go can make us better and hanging on can make us stronger.]
Relationships: Terezi Pyrope/Vriska Serket
Comments: 4
Kudos: 10





	1. THE HEAVENS and YOU and ME

ACT ONE

_A planet on fire. Stars blink in and out around it in a halo. The planets: aligned. The darkness: frail. And ME: dark.  
I see YOU (in a less than traditional sense) before the spotlight even lands on YOU, stage left.  
YOU smile and wave exuberantly as if YOU are glad to see ME even though we both know why I am here. We stand opposite each other, divided by the space of the stage. Neither of us move forward._

**VRISKA:** Took you long enough to join me! Staying 8ehind would’ve 8een waaaaaaaay too 8oring!

_I tighten my grip on the hilt of my sword. Then, I draw it. It is smoothly levelled in your direction, as is expected of a sword. Impossibly, your grin grows wider. Sharp teeth shine. Bright eyes burn. Yours and mine._

**TEREZI:** 1 D1D NOT COM3 FOR TH3 4POC4LYPS3 

**TEREZI:** 1 C4M3 TO STOP YOU

_YOU glance skyward, a cheap pass at distraction. It is intended to send my attention upwards to where THE HEAVENS pass judgement. It is intended to suggest that YOU have planted the end of everything up there. I know YOU are misguiding ME. YOU know I know. We both know._

**VRISKA:** I’ve always appreci8ted your dedic8tion.

**TEREZI:** TH4T’S 4 L13

_YOU frown._

**VRISKA:** It is not! There’s no point in lying when I can just tell you the truth. Like I did yesterday. You agreed with me then! You said something needs to 8e done, and here I am: doing something.

_I know I may be too late. The fire burns._

**TEREZI:** DON’T DO TH1S

**VRISKA:** Why do you care? The world’s ending anyways.

_YOU are right. The world is ending, and everything we have been told is a lie. But is it right to bring down THE HEAVENS over a lie?_

**TEREZI:** W3 4R3 NOT EXEMPT FROM L4WS 1N T1M3S OF CR1S3S, 4ND 1 W1LL S33 YOU H3LD 4CCOUNT4BL3 FOR YOUR MISD33DS

**TEREZI:** YOU W1LL DOOM US 4LL

**VRISKA:** Doomed is doomed is doomed is doomed. What does it matter?

**TEREZI:** W3 DON’T H4V3 TH3 R1GHT TO D3C1D3 TH3 F4T3 OF OUR PL4N3T

**VRISKA:** Counterpoint! They gave us that right when they handed us the keys to run the place and didn’t even tell us the point of it all! I’m not going to st8nd 8y while they t8ke our centuries of effort and flush it down the dr8in.

**VRISKA:** Come oooooooon. We have nothing to lose and everything to gain! 

**TEREZI:** 1 4M NOT CONV1NC3D TH4T TH1S W1LL 4CH13V3 4NYTH1NG OTH3R TH4N H4ST3N OUR D3STRUCT1ON

**VRISKA:** Of course you of all people wouldn’t be convinced. You’re a neurotic mess.

**TEREZI:** 1 TH1NK 4BOUT CONS3QU3NC3S!

**TEREZI:** CONS1D3R FOR 4 MOM3NT HOW YOUR D3SP3R4T3 PL4Y 4G41NST TH3 4LL-KNOW1NG GODS WH1CH CR34T3D US W1LL NOT WORK 

**TEREZI:** DO NOT DO TH1S

**VRISKA:** I’ve thought a8out this! And I don’t have to stay here and t8ke your lecture. If you have qualms with what I’m doing, stop me. 8ut if you can’t even figure out where you stand, then you can st8y here and w8tch as I do what I do 8est: s8ve the sad clumps of people that call this planet home.

_YOU turn away, and I hate how YOU are so sure, even now, in the path YOU will follow, even if that path will ruin us all.  
With your back turned to my blade, I could slice through YOU with a single jab, sever rib from rib from meat from heart, leave YOU to bleed to death, and then go to find and disable whatever device YOU have employed against THE HEAVENS. I tighten my grip on my blade as YOU begin to walk away.  
I do not step forward, and YOU do not even glance backwards at me as YOU depart.  
In a desperate attempt to get YOU to stay, I call out to YOU._

**TEREZI:** L3T’S M4K3 ON3 L4ST W4G3R

_YOU stop, pause for a moment as if considering the challenge I’ve thrown between us. And then you continue walking away. My feet carry me forward, but my sword does not follow, instead swinging down to my side._

**TEREZI: VR1SK4**

_YOU do not look back at ME when YOU respond. Your voice is devoid of any emotion I can recognize. It is worse than the affectionate warmth YOU greeted ME with or the scalding indignation YOU used to defend your actions. It aches more, and I want to purge myself of this ache. The law should not waver in its judgments and should not hesitate in an execution. But still, I hold my hand._

**VRISKA:** Not this time, Terezi.

_YOU exit stage left. I stop and stare, unseeing and lost, at the point at which YOU ceased to exist onstage with ME. My sword is heavy in the palm of my hand. I don’t know what I intended to do. Lately, it feels as though I don’t know anything at all. I direct my attention upwards towards THE HEAVENS, breathe in deeply to take in its colors or lack thereof. The stars blink down at me, solemn and unforgivable. YOU, unforgivable, are gone, but I remain here.  
I exit stage left._

BLACKOUT

ACT TWO

_I do not receive a spotlight, but that has never been an issue. We lie down, side by side, and above us, the scattered stars rearrange themselves into constellations, stories for us to laugh over as night falls in this dismal place.  
This is a memory, and I recognize it as such, but it is worth remembering._

**TEREZI:** 1 WORRY, SOM3T1M3S, TH4T 1 H4T3 YOU

**TEREZI:** NOT TH4T 1 3XP3CT YOU TO M1ND

**TEREZI:** 3V3N WORS3, 1 TH1NK 1 WOULD M1SS YOU MOR3 TH4N YOU WOULD M1SS M3 1F 1 PUSH3D YOU 4W4Y

**TEREZI:** YOU DON’T N33D 4NYON3... NOT 3V3N M3

**TEREZI:** WH3N TH3 T1M3 COM3S, W1LL 1 CHOOS3 MYS3LF OR TH3 PL4N3T W3 W3R3 M4D3 TO PROT3CT? 

**TEREZI:** W1LL 1 CHOOS3 YOU?

_I retire the entire farce and stand up. YOU remain on the ground, deep asleep, just as I remember. I step away, sit down on the edge of the stage to look over the audience I cannot see, but I know exists. THE HEAVENS are always watching, and we are the easiest to track.  
I still do not know who is in the right here. Judgment has not been made yet.  
YOU sit up and yawn. I don’t remember this._

**VRISKA:** Terezi? What’s 8een up with you l8tely?

**TEREZI:** 1’M JUST TH1NK1NG

**TEREZI:** GO B4CK TO SL33P

**VRISKA:** As if I’d let you get a head start on the day!

_YOU rise and join ME to look out at the audience, but, unlike ME, I know YOU don’t see them. YOU never acknowledge them when we talk. But they’re always there._

**VRISKA:** Looking for something?

**TEREZI:** NO

**VRISKA:** Haha! Right! 8ecause I 8linded you!

_YOU shift so that your weight is on the palm of your hands behind YOU._

**VRISKA:** It’s too 8ad too. The sky’s 8eautiful tonight.

**TEREZI:** YOU DON’T S33 TH3M?

_An edge of wariness creeps into your voice. I’ve never bothered mentioning them before, but YOU must see them. YOU must._

**VRISKA:** What are you talking a8out? The stars? 8ecause I’m definitely seeing them 8etter than you right now. Not that it isn’t pretty 8adass that you can smell them out even though they’re so far away. 

_I direct my attention up towards the light._

**TEREZI:** TH3Y 4R3N’T 4S F4R 4W4Y 4S YOU B3L13V3

_At this, YOU throw your hands above your head and fall back to lie down._

**VRISKA:** Man, Terezi! You know I don’t love your little riddles needling me all the time! Needle, needle, needle. It’s all you do these days. I can’t ever catch a 8reak from your needling. 

_YOU shift onto your side and face away from ME. It doesn’t matter, I can still smell YOU. But I suppose the direction of people’s gazes matter a lot to them. In the silence of the stage, I catch your whisper._

**VRISKA:** What is it that you even want from me these days? I can never tell.

**TEREZI:** STOP TH1S

**VRISKA:** Stop what!?

**TEREZI:** STOP PR3T3ND1NG TO B3 H3R

**TEREZI:** YOU’R3 B4D 4T 1T

_VRISKA lurches upwards, rage and indignation coloring her face. I lean away from her, and her words slip through my brain like water through sand. I don’t know who this is, but it isn’t YOU. I haven’t been listening enough. I never listen enough._

**VRISKA:** Pretending to 8e who!? You’re ins8ne sometimes, you know that? Always talking in convoluted idioms and referencing things that don’t even exist. C8n you even tell me what you w8nt from me? Or do you n8t even kn8w enough to 8nswer that for y8urself!

**VRISKA:** I’ve d8ne everything I c8n to m8ke amends with you, and you just throw it b8ck in my f8ce! What do you want from me! What will it t8ke for you to get over it all and st8p looking aw8y from me! Pay att8ntion!!!!!!!!

**TEREZI:** STOP!

_Their mouth shuts with an audible click. And now, I take them in._

**TEREZI:** 1 KNOW TH1S 1S 4 M3MORY

**TEREZI:** 4ND 1 KNOW YOU 4R3 NOT VR1SK4

**TEREZI:** YOU 4R3 ST4LL1NG M3

**TEREZI:** WHY?

_They smile, and it is just as sharp and dangerous as your smile, but it still looks wrong on your face._

**THE HEAVENS:** What gave it away?

**TEREZI:** VR1SK4 DO3SN’T N33D TO 4SK M3 WH4T 1 W4NT

**TEREZI:** SH3 4LR34DY KNOWS

**TEREZI:** 3V3N 1F…

**TEREZI:** 3V3N 1F SH3 1S K1ND 3NOUGH NOT TO M3NT1ON 1T

**THE HEAVENS:** Are you certain she knows? Is it not possible that she is just as confused as you? Just as misled? Maybe this is her way of reaching out to you. Maybe this game you two play of falling apart and falling together, running away and chasing each other, is the only language she knows.

**THE HEAVENS:** There is discord in your heart, Shepherd. We can sense it. How can you be so certain Vriska knows what you want when you yourself don’t know?

**TEREZI:** YOU 4R3 ST4LL1NG M3 4G41N

**TEREZI:** T3LL M3 WHY, OR 1 W1LL L34V3

**THE HEAVENS:** We aren’t stalling you.

**TEREZI:** TH3N 1 4M L34V1NG

**THE HEAVENS:** Wait!

**THE HEAVENS:** We only mean to help you. We have only ever meant to help you. In clarifying your own feelings, we believe you will more easily come to the correct judgment.

**TEREZI:** YOU M34N TH3 JUDG3M3NT YOU W4NT M3 TO M4K3

**THE HEAVENS:** Is there a difference?

**TEREZI:** TH3R3 1S TO M3

**TEREZI:** T3LL M3. WHY D1D YOU M4K3 US? WHY S3ND VR1SK4 4ND 1 TO TH1S WORLD 1F YOU ONLY M34NT TO D3STROY 1T?

_They are silent, contemplative. Stalling, still. But I will take my answers before I go._

**THE HEAVENS:** You have never failed us before.

**TEREZI:** TH3R3 W4S 4 B3FOR3

**TEREZI:** L1K3 SH3 S41D

**THE HEAVENS:** Yes.

**TEREZI:** YOU D1D NOT 1NT3ND FOR M3 TO 4PPROV3 OF G3NOC1D3

**THE HEAVENS:** No.

**TEREZI:** 4ND 1 DON’T

**TEREZI:** WHY 4M 1 H3R3?

**THE HEAVENS:** You are our eyes, our judgment, and our peacekeeper. With every iteration of this world and with you, you have grown wiser. Someday, when the Project is complete, your wisdom will be required to guide it.

**TEREZI:** 4ND VR1SK4? WH4T 1S SH3?

**THE HEAVENS:** She was a mistake. She will not be remade in the next iteration.

**TEREZI:** TH4T’S 4 L13

**THE HEAVENS:** We do not lie.

**TEREZI:** W3 BOTH KNOW TH4T’S NOT TRU3

**TEREZI:** 4ND W3 BOTH KNOW YOU DON’T M4K3 M1ST4K3S

_They do not respond._

**TEREZI:** YOU’R3 ST1LL ST4LL1NG! 1’M L34V1NG

**THE HEAVENS:** We only mean to explain-

_I stand to leave. But they reach out and grip my arm._

**THE HEAVENS:** Terezi-

_My sword is drawn. I cannot kill them in this memory, but I can kill the vessel they’ve chosen to speak to ME. My sword is levelled at them, as is expected of it._

**TEREZI:** DON’T TOUCH M3

**THE HEAVENS:** You will not kill us while we are in this form. That is our fear. You will not be able to kill her either.

**TEREZI:** YOU DON’T KNOW WH4T 1’M C4P4BL3 OF

**THE HEAVENS:** You have failed to kill her before.

**TEREZI:** 1’M L34V1NG

**THE HEAVENS:** Terezi!

_I do not listen to them. I am not their hound, and I will pass my own judgment independent of their vision and their distractions._

**THE HEAVENS:** Terezi!

_I hear them stand._

**THE HEAVENS:** Terezi, w8!

_I cannot help it. I explode._

**TEREZI:** DON’T US3 H3R VO1C3 TO K33P M3 H3R3!

**TEREZI:** 1’M L34V1NG!

**THE HEAVENS:** I’ll use whatever voice is necessary to get you to listen. For all your talk, you’re still soft. You don’t have what it takes to raise a planet. Neither of us does!

_They laugh in your laugh. I hate it. I hate them._

**THE HEAVENS:** We need to start over. We need a fresh start, you and I. We can’t do that if I destroy everything.

_When they stalk forward to lean over ME, they are towering and condescending and concerned and wrong, all wrong. This isn’t YOU. They aren’t YOU. I am still trembling though. I do not leave. Instead, I flinch away._

**TEREZI:** STOP!

**THE HEAVENS:** What? Are you scared a8out what I might say? Scared that I don’t love you? Don’t need you?

**TEREZI:** TH4T 1SN’T WH4T TH1S 1S 4BOUT

**THE HEAVENS:** It’s what it’s always a8out. That’s why they don’t trust you yet. That’s why the Project keeps getting restarted. You’re not enough yet.

**TEREZI:** DON’T US3 H3R VO1C3 FOR TH1S

**THE HEAVENS:** The world wouldn’t have to 8e restarted if you were strong enough. No matter how many times we rehearse this together, you always mess up. You always 8ecome too reliant on me, too attached. What will you do when I’m gone? What will you do when you must get rid of me?

_I step back towards them, back to the center of the stage, back into the lights. I stab them. They fall. I turn my face away from the audience. I won’t let THE HEAVENS see ME now. My voice does not shake when I speak._

**TEREZI:** YOU 4R3N’T GOOD 4T PR3T3ND1NG TO B3 H3R

_I exit stage left._

BLACKOUT

ACT THREE

_A dim stage. Lights blink in and out softly like fireflies on a summer evening. A wave of warmth floods the stage before a single spotlight flicks on and crosses the beams of the stage to find YOU entering stage right.  
YOU are in obvious pain. YOU stumble, fall, and catch yourself on the palms of your hands._

**VRISKA:** Fuuuuuuuuck!

_I enter stage right and pull up short behind YOU, sword drawn. YOU scramble to back away from ME, lips pulled back in an angry snarl before abruptly clearing._

**VRISKA:** What took you so long? I’ve 8een stum8ling around like a drunken fool, and you still didn’t catch up with me until I got to the outer ring. You’re losing your edge. People might mistake you for incompetent!

**TEREZI:** 1 W4S H3LD UP BY SOM3TH1NG

_YOU send a knowing look at one of the glowing lights drifting past you._

**VRISKA:** They really don’t know when to call it quits, huh? The taste of defeat must be pretty 8itter for omniscient assholes like them.

**TEREZI:** TH3Y D1D NOT S33M D3F34T3D

**VRISKA:** Well, they aren’t yet, 8ut they will 8e. I’ve got them cornered. They’ve got nowhere to go 8ut six feet under dirt.

**TEREZI:** NO, YOU’R3 WRONG.

**TEREZI:** 1 DON’T KNOW HOW, BUT W3 4R3 PL4Y1NG 1NTO TH31R H4NDS

**TEREZI:** OUR ONLY CHO1C3 1S TO STOP

**TEREZI:** DON’T DO TH1S, VR1SK4. COM3 B4CK W1TH M3.

_YOU finally get to your feet, wiping nonexistent dirt from your clothes and pretending that YOU weren’t just bent over in pain. When YOU finish dusting yourself, YOU straighten, cross your hands over your chest, and smirk widely at me.  
I hate YOU.  
I wish YOU would just come back with ME.  
I wish YOU wouldn’t go.  
I have to kill YOU._

**VRISKA:** You really stood there and listened to their lunacy, didn’t you? See, that’s the pro8lem with you. You don’t know when to listen and when to just tune out the idiots who think they can manipul8 you. 8ut I guess they’re not wrong to think so if they’ve managed to!

**TEREZI:** 1 DON’T ST4ND W1TH TH3M

**VRISKA:** No, you’re just trying to stop me for the sake of justice and law. I know, I know.

**TEREZI:** 1 4M TRY1NG TO S4VE US!

**VRISKA:** Why can’t you realize that I am too- fUCK!

_YOU are interrupted by painful spasms. My sword clatters on the floorboards as I rush to your side._

**TEREZI** : VR1SK4! WH4T’S GO1NG ON?

_YOU fall to the ground, eyes tightly shut as YOU curl up and claw at your own skin for something to hold onto before grasping onto my arms. I drag YOU closer, I can’t help it, and YOU don’t look at ME as the pain subsides._

**TEREZI:** WH4T W4S TH4T

_YOU push my arms off of YOU and struggle to your feet. A shaky smile drags across your face as YOU push your mangled hair back._

**VRISKA:** You haven’t realized it yet? All those years of ch8sing me around and acting like you knew everything, and you haven’t realized?

_At my side, my hands curl into fists, and my nails dig into the skin of my palms. Unease creeps into ME as YOU steady yourself and grin wider at ME._

**TEREZI:** R34L1Z3D WH4T?

**VRISKA:** Did they tell you? What you’re meant to 8ecome?

**TEREZI:** Y3S

**VRISKA:** I 8et they didn’t tell you the purpose I serve, sneaky 8astards!

**TEREZI:** WH4T 4R3 YOU S4Y1NG?

_YOU laugh. It is loud and clear. It rings in the theater, mocking and knowing and bitter, so so bitter._

**VRISKA:** Wow! You really are 8lind! And stupid. And clueless. And- And-

_YOU spit each sentence out with a level of acidity that has me picking my sword back up._

**VRISKA:** And in way over your head. 

_I was told to kill YOU. I was told I’ve failed before, in a thousand little ways that don’t matter to anyone but THE HEAVENS and in a thousand more ways that don’t matter to anyone but ME.  
I cannot afford to fail this planet anymore. I should have kept a better eye on YOU. I should have paid attention to the ways in which THE HEAVENS were manipulating us._

**TEREZI:** 1 KNOW 3NOUGH TO R34L1Z3 YOU M4Y COST US 3V3RYTH1NG

**TEREZI:** W3 4R3 TH3 C4R3T4K3RS OF TH1S PL4N3T

**TEREZI:** NOT 1TS 3X3CUT1ON3RS

**VRISKA:** You don’t have enough faith in us. We’re anything we want to 8e.

**TEREZI:** W3 4R3 WHO W3 4R3

**TEREZI:** TH3R3 1S NO CH4NG1NG OUR ROL3S

_My grip tightens on my sword. YOU watch, amused, as I outline my offer._

**TEREZI:** W1LL YOU ST4Y H3R3?

**TEREZI:** OR W1LL YOU COM3 B4CK W1TH M3?

_Your smile grows wider._

**VRISKA:** I’ll prove it to you.

**TEREZI:** NOT 1NT3R3ST3D

_YOU ignore ME._

**VRISKA:** I’ll prove to you that we can 8e anything we want. And then we will 8e.

**TEREZI:** 1T’S NOT TH4T 34SY

**VRISKA:** Neither is making me stay.

_YOU turn away from ME, but YOU don’t leave. Instead, YOU look offstage._

**VRISKA:** Don’t you ever wonder what’s 8eyond here?

_I do not respond. YOU look back over at me._

**VRISKA:** Don’t you ever wonder what they’re really keeping from us? I know you do. You’re so 8rilliant, Terezi. Never in a million years could I 8e half as aware of it all. That’s what you think, right? That’s what they convinced you of, right?

**VRISKA:** I’m just a mistake! A silly little pro8lem for you to deal with!

_YOU look up at the curtains. I never knew YOU saw them._

**VRISKA:** You’re too caught up in it all to realize what we’re missing. 8ut I do, and I’ll show you.

_YOU exit stage left. I do not stop you. The curtains close._

BLACKOUT

ACT FOUR

_A planet, blue and fragile. It’s a bubble in the dark. Anything could pop it. It is the latest in a long line of failed trials and variations. They keep remaking it. YOU would openly question why they even bother.  
The curtains do not rise, but the lights do turn on. Like the rising of the Sun, the lights increase in intensity inch by inch down the curtains. They are slow at first, but eventually, suddenly, the stage is lit.  
The planet turns. YOU have convinced ME it is another failed experiment in a long line of failed trials and variations that I never even knew.  
The experiment has not failed yet._

**VRISKA:** Finally, the curtains have closed.

_YOU enter stage right, stumbling. All of the lights turn to focus on YOU. And YOU. YOU have the audacity to laugh even as YOU are wracked with horrible, horrible pain. It isn’t healthy to carry a bomb inside yourself._

**VRISKA:** You couldn’t have 8uilt me so this would 8e a little less painful?

_YOU sneer._

**VRISKA:** Or was it too much of a 8other to 8uild a 8etter 8om8?

_The lights do not respond. Stage lights are not meant to respond to characters. YOU walk to the edge of the stage and sit down, legs swinging to kick against the wooden boards._

**VRISKA:** You only talk to her, don’t you? Your perfect little Shepherd.

**VRISKA:** I get that you want to test her! I mean, I’ve got that urge all the time. Some people just need to 8e challenged or they’ll never get anywhere in life.

**VRISKA:** Some planets too…

**VRISKA:** 8ut what seems like a real waste to me is the fact that you didn’t just tell me from the 8eginning what you wanted me to do.

**VRISKA:** I would’ve 8een way 8etter at my jo8 if you hadn’t convinced me I was a Shepherd!

_YOU look away from the lights and begin muttering into your shoulder._

**VRISKA:** Not that I didn’t suspect. I saw through your lies a mile away! And you’re lucky I did 8ecause I wouldn’t have pressed your Shepherd nearly as much if I’d thought we were meant to 8e on the same side!

**VRISKA:** 8efore I die, do me one thing. You owe me that much if I’m going to die for you.

_The theater is silent. Not a soul speaks. Not a wind whispers. Nothing stirs in the darkness. Only the lights shine down on YOU.  
YOU let out a single huff of laughter._

**VRISKA:** Predicta8le.

**VRISKA:** You can’t even honor a dying girl’s last request? I’m not going down easy if you don’t answer me.

**VRISKA:** Stall me the way you stall your Shepherd. Convince me. Try and 8rainwash me.

_YOU turn a sharp look onto the lights._

**VRISKA:** I want to see you try.

**VRISKA:** And I’ll even offer you some incentive! You talk to me, and I won’t jump off this stage right now.

_The lights shut off. The theater is plunged into darkness. Your laughter fills the room, manic and high and layered with bitterness and cruelty. You’re glad this hurts. YOU hope it hurts them to be forced to break their stupid, little, pointless rules._

**VRISKA:** Interested now?

_A single spotlight flickers onto YOU._

**THE HEAVENS:** You have died for us before, and you will do so again. We owe you nothing.

_YOU leer at them. Your smile is predatory, just as THE HEAVENS intended for it to be when they first made YOU._

**VRISKA:** Then consider this conversation a favor 8etween friends.

_THE HEAVENS do not respond. YOU kick your legs against the stage and then settle your hands at your side, perfectly positioned to pitch yourself off of the stage._

**THE HEAVENS:** Very well. One conversation.

**VRISKA:** Yes. One conversation, and then you will die. I guess I’m the one doing the favor right now!

**THE HEAVENS:** ...what did you want, Vriska?

_YOU lean forward and brace your hands on your knees._

**VRISKA:** It’s not a8out what I want. I just wanted to see if it’d 8e worth it to jump off this stage.

_YOU get to your feet._

**THE HEAVENS:** Jumping is worth nothing. We are only preventing your untimely death by keeping you from jumping.

**VRISKA:** Is that the story you’re going with? I’ve got to admit it! I expected 8etter of you! You went through all the trou8le of making such a clever Shepherd, and you can’t even manage a 8etter lie than that? Aren’t I meant to die?

**THE HEAVENS:** Not like this. There is death at the end of every story when the curtain closes. But to be erased from the story is to experience a different sort of death, one we cannot retrieve you from. If you jump, you will be truly dead.

_A single bark of laughter escapes YOU. It is interrupted by the air leaving your lungs. YOU sway on your feet, gasping for air as pain seizes your ribcage and squeezes. The bomb is expanding within YOU. It will soon be time._

**VRISKA:** What was that you said… about an untimely death?

_A gasp escapes your lips as another wave of unbearable pain overtakes YOU. Trembling like a leaf in a hurricane, YOU stumble close to the edge of the stage. Every light on the stage flickers on at full blast as if a wall of light could keep YOU from falling.  
YOU don’t notice, too busy hacking up what could be a lung.  
When YOU finally recover your breath, YOU stare down at your unsteady feet, left hand digging clawed fingers into your right arm._

**VRISKA:** ...Is this that timely death you wanted?

**THE HEAVENS:** You will not die when the bomb detonates.

_YOU chuckle to yourself despite the pain running through YOU like an electric current._

**VRISKA:** Right. You need me still-

_Your head imperceptibly turns at the sound of racing footsteps.  
I enter stage right._

**VRISKA:** -for your Shepherd.

**TEREZI:** VR1SK4!

_YOU turn, grinning._

**VRISKA:** You made it! Welcome to the party! Now that we’re all gather-

_YOU bite down on your tongue as your body convulses with the pain of the bomb. YOU twist inwards, clenching at your center as if YOU can carve the pain out of yourself. I watch, horrified, as YOU trip over your own feet. And then one foot slips over the edge of the stage.  
And then YOU are careening backwards.  
Before I realize what I’m doing, I’ve rushed across the stage and caught YOU by the shoulders to drag YOU back from the edge.  
YOU try to shrug off my grip, but I dig my hands into your shoulders and shake YOU violently._

**TEREZI:** T3LL M3 WH4T 1S GO1NG ON R1GHT NOW

**VRISKA:** Isn’t it o8vious? I’m dying.

**TEREZI:** WHY!?

_YOU shrug. Your gaze and smile doesn’t waver as YOU speak._

**VRISKA:** Some people were made to guide planets. Others were made to 8low them up. Get off of me.

_YOU push my slack hands off of YOU, straighten, and frown at ME._

**VRISKA:** Don’t 8e so shocked! We 8oth knew something was fishy a8out this place.

_YOU glance up at the silent lights observing our conversation. I always knew YOU loved this planet more than I’ve ever cared for it._

**VRISKA:** Listen, Terezi. I don’t know why they told us we were 8oth meant to guide the planet, 8ut I do know they lied. And honestly? I don’t really care a8out the reasons.

**VRISKA:** We’ve played this out a million times already, even if we don’t remem8er. A planet is 8orn. Two Shepherds are made. 8ut one is a Wolf and, when the planet’s allotted time is up, the Wolf kills everything. And we are remade.

**VRISKA:** It was fun 8eing the Wolf, sure. I had you running in circles trying to catch me! 8ut it kind of feels like I’m chasing my own tail now.

_My voice comes out low, shaky._

**TEREZI:** 1 H4V3 C4UGHT YOU

**TEREZI:** TH3 CH4S3 3NDS H3R3

**TEREZI:** YOU H4V3 TO ST4Y H3R3

_YOU smile at ME._

**VRISKA:** I don’t have to do anything except what I do 8est.

**TEREZI:** WH4T-

_YOU fall backwards on your heels, plummeting off of the stage and into the darkness beyond._

BLACKOUT

ACT FIVE

_An empty theater. The curtains are drawn. The lights are low. YOU stumble down the aisle and collapse in the fourth row of seats. I follow.  
YOU slump forward in your seat and stare hard at the stage before glancing over at ME with a grin made of knives._

**VRISKA:** Here to finish me off?

_My hands are empty. I forgot my sword sometime before the fall._

**TEREZI:** NO

**TEREZI:** WH4T 4R3 W3 DO1NG H3R3?

**VRISKA:** Let’s just w8.

_We fall silent.  
Silence has a buzz to it, something nobody notices until they listen. The silence which fills the theater we sit in now reminds me of long nights of watching the stars alone, waiting for YOU to wake up.  
That was back when we were still together. Before YOU disappeared and started wreaking havoc. Before I became obligated to apprehend YOU.  
I don’t think YOU actually knew about THE HEAVENS back then. Secretly, I think YOU were bored. And even more secretly, I worry that YOU weren’t bored. I worry that YOU realize that I was._

**VRISKA:** Do you remem8er this? We used to sit like this all the time.

**TEREZI:** W3 N3V3R S4T P34C3FULLY TOG3TH3R

**VRISKA:** Yeah. I don’t remem8er either.

_The lights on the stage flicker on. YOU lean forward more, hands digging into your knees. Soft voices float off stage._

**THE HEAVENS:** Another failure, this one worse than the last.

**THE HEAVENS:** Not worse. The Shepherd was decided until the end. We need only a few more iterations.

**THE HEAVENS:** And the bomb?

**THE HEAVENS:** The Wolf will return. She cannot help it. She listens even now.

_I look to YOU, Wolf. Something changes.  
I remember._

**TEREZI:** I’M SUPPOS3D TO K1LL YOU

**VRISKA:** Yeah, yeah. I got the message. You need to hold me accounta8le for crimes against our planet. Can’t you can it until we get 8ack to go on your spiel?

**TEREZI:** NO, L1ST3N

_Something in my voice must reach YOU because, for once, YOU do. Or maybe YOU always have and I never realized. I didn’t even know YOU could see the stage.  
I reach for your hand._

**TEREZI:** L3T’S NOT GO B4CK

_YOU stare at ME, look down at where our hands meet. Your mouth opens, closes, opens again. I’ve left YOU speechless, so I wait, for once, instead of chasing YOU down._

**VRISKA:** ...what?

**TEREZI:** 1 DON’T W4NT TO GO B4CK

**VRISKA:** You can’t win against me that easily, Terezi! If you want to ro8 me of glory, you’ll have to try harder than asking me to 8ack off.

_YOU pull your hand out of my grasp._

**VRISKA:** It was a good try though! Appealing to our old partnership like that! I’ve got you all cornered, of course you don’t want to go 8ack.

**TEREZI:** VR1SK4

**TEREZI:** 1F W3 R3TURN, TH3 BOMB W1LL D3PLOY UNL3SS 1 K1LL YOU

**TEREZI:** 4ND W3 W1LL B3 R3M4D3 UNT1L 1 F1N4LLY H4V3 TH3 COUR4G3 TO DO SO

**TEREZI:** SOM3D4Y, 1 W1LL NOT B3 WHO 1 4M NOW, 4ND 1 W1LL 3ND YOUR L1F3 4ND, W1TH 1T, YOUR 3X1ST3NC3

**TEREZI:** YOU WON’T B3 R3M4D3 1N TH3 F1N4L WORLD 4FT3R 1 H4V3 K1LL3D YOU

_YOU snort._

**VRISKA:** You think you can kill me so easily? Please.

**TEREZI:** NO, YOUR V3RY 3X1ST3NC3 1S PROOF TH4T 1 H4V3 F41L3D TO DO SO B3FOR3

**TEREZI:** YOU 4R3 4 T3ST 1 H4V3 NOT P4SS3D FOR TH3 S1MPL3 R34SON TH4T 1 H4V3 NOT W4NT3D TO

**TEREZI:** L3T’S NOT GO B4CK

_YOU finally fully turn your body away from the stage to properly look at ME, smiling nervously. Your uncertainty simultaneously throws ME off and makes ME more certain._

**VRISKA:** Where would we even go?

_There are green EXIT signs glowing on the walls around us._

**TEREZI:** WHY C4N’T W3 JUST L34V3?

_YOU draw your hands into your lap. Something settles on your shoulders. Hope and fear rise in ME.  
I wonder. I wonder. I wonder.  
My hands reach for yours but stay in my lap.  
YOU draw breath into your lungs. The matter settles._

**VRISKA:** We can’t do that.

_YOU stand._

**VRISKA:** I told you I would prove it to you. I won’t lose. I'll do what I do 8est.

_I watch, stunned, as YOU walk to the stage. YOU hesitate at the stairs on its left wings.  
My voice comes out low, a whisper that couldn’t possibly reach your ears._

**TEREZI:** ...VR1SK4?

_YOU hesitate as if my words have sunk in, but then YOU square your shoulders and start up the stairs._

**TEREZI:** VR1SK4.

_I stand, my feet move of their own volition. I am chasing YOU again. I am always chasing YOU because YOU always disappear in all of the worst ways.  
The lights turn to YOU as YOU reach the last step._

**TEREZI:** VR1SK4!

_I reach the stairs, and I remember. Oh Gods, I remember.  
YOU asked them why we were placed together. Wolf, they called YOU Wolf. I’m supposed to kill YOU. And YOU? YOU are supposed to be what I chase. And always, always, YOU return.  
How many times? How many times did we leave the stage only to return?  
How many times have I asked YOU to leave with ME because I didn’t want to someday kill YOU in service of beings that do not deserve my loyalty?  
I run up the steps and stop at the edge of the stage.  
YOU look at ME. THE HEAVENS shine on YOU.  
YOU are winning. YOU never know how to lose.  
I watch, horrified, as YOU pick up the sword which I dropped. The sword meant for killing YOU. YOU hold it out to ME, hilt in my direction, but I do not reach for it.  
And then, with a flick of your wrist, YOU redirect the sword.  
THE HEAVENS falter.  
The lights shutter off for one fraction of a horrible second.  
I jump to stop YOU.  
I see YOU grin at me, a challenge in your eyes. A challenge I will never be able to meet.  
And my sword?  
It stabs smoothly, severs rib from rib from meat from heart, as is expected of a sword.  
YOU fall, sword and all, off stage.  
THE HEAVENS are screaming. Or maybe that’s ME. Or maybe it’s nobody and I just don’t care.  
YOU are dead._

BLACKOUT


	2. ======>

You’re not in this world. 

I’ve looked. 

I guess they thought that was enough to qualify passing the test. Or maybe they’ve simply forgotten your existence since you fell off the stage and died. I don’t know if they can see beyond the stage. I don’t know if there even is anything beyond the stage. I don't remember that far.

Everything is perfect. And it is without you. And. That makes me sad.

I started looking for you when I remembered. I see you sometimes in the dark blue of dusk. In the creatures that hunt at night when I bundle them into forests. In the knife points of ice.

At first, that’s all it was. Vague memories of a person I once knew, but couldn’t have ever known because I know every person, animal, and living thing that calls this planet home. And you aren’t in this world.

But it colored in more and more, day by day. Inky colors mixed together to form fuzzy shapes that grew sharper the more I focused on them. It reminded me of how I used to see, and that reminded me of what you did in our last life together, and that-

Well, I remember now.

The Heavens don’t know that though.

And today? Today, I finally saw the edge of the stage.

Everything is perfect. And it is without you. And. That makes me sad.

I’ve done my best to Shepherd this planet, but what’s the point? You always did love this planet far more than me. I think that's why you thought it'd be worth it to return for it. Do you remember what you said? I remember it now. I don’t know if I quite believe you because I think, for once, I will truly commit to the role I was once made for. I am chasing you, Wolf.

I close my eyes and remember how it used to be.

It is silent. Peaceful.

You were right. We had been this way in previous lives.

I take a step off of the stage, and I fall.

I follow the EXIT signs. I do not look back.

I am blinded, but only for a moment. And then, at a thought, for forever. When my mind clears, the first thing I smell is the sky. It is real and clear and endless, so unlike the sky of the theater. The second thing I sense is you. Your hands are gripping mine.

You say to me, “Took you long enough to join me! Staying behind would’ve been waaay too boring!”

Everything is perfect. And it is with you.

I say to you, “The chase ends here.”

At that, you smile.

**Author's Note:**

> I totally forgot "scenes" are a thing until I finished writing this. But like. It was heavily inspired by _Rosencrantz and Guildenstern are Dead_ and if Tom Stoppard can write a fanfiction play without scenes, then I can also write a fanfiction play without scenes.  
> Anyways. Is it obvious that I'm aroace bc nobody ever kisses in my fanfiction? Everyday, I ask myself: Is it not enough to be an aroace who is in love with Terezi Pyrope? Everyday, the answer is: That is worth Everything.  
> You can find me @3vesthefont on Tumblr :)  
> Pls send me Vrisrezi fanfic, I'm begging you. As previously mentioned, I am in love with Terezi Pyrope.  
> Thanks for reading! Enjoy your life


End file.
